Music Among Friends
Welcome to our 2026 Festival, our first in the Museum for two years, and a very special ‘homecoming’.
Schubert gathered his friends in Viennese drawing rooms. Schumann built his world around poets, pianists and fellow dreamers. Benjamin Britten created an artistic home at Aldeburgh with the people he loved and trusted most. All three understood that music made among friends has a particular warmth, and that is the spirit we now bring back to Leicester.
Eight remarkable artists will play for you over three days, with Schubert, Schumann and Britten at their most intimate and searching, and these artists will give the world its first hearing of new works by two composers who are themselves bound by friendship and the teacher-pupil relationship: Robin Holloway and Huw Watkins.
We are also taking great music into schools, care homes and youth groups across the city, supported by Leicester City Council — because we all believe that great music belongs to everyone.
Every detail of this programme has been shaped with care; the balance of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, great masterpieces alongside lesser-known pieces and music receiving its very first performance, from composers I love and trust.
I urge you to come to every event if you possibly can, so that you get the whole picture and appreciate how our festival team grows together over three days. When it’s gone it’s gone: each concert is unique, a moment in time. We deliberately don’t record our concerts, to give our artists the freedom to focus on playing entirely for you.
Nicholas Daniel
Artistic Director
